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tv   Journal  KCSMMHZ  November 6, 2012 2:30pm-3:00pm PST

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>> hi, everyone. welcome to the "journal" coming to you live on dw in berlin. coming up, america decides weather barack obama gets a second term or weather his republican challenger mitt romney will move into the white house. >> a 48-hour and that-is there a strike cripple's greece and brings hundreds of thousands on to the streets. >> in champions league soccer action, dorfman wins -- dortmund
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beats real madrid. voting is now under way across the u.s. as americans decide who will lead the country for the next four years. after vigorous campaigning right to the last minute and aggressive advertising that made it the most expensive campaign of all time, president barack obama and his challenger mitt romney both into the election day confident of victory. >> but most election polls say the race for the white house is too close to call, meaning the result will be decided in a small number of so-called swing states by florida, ohio, virginia, and new hampshire, which was the first to vote on the stroke of midnight. >> voting began early in this part of new hampshire. the first ballot such traditionally cast here at midnight, and after the first 10 were tallied, it was a drop -- draw. >> for president -- this has
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never happened before -- we have a tie. five votes each. >> of voting in dick's bill has never been a gauge for the rest of the nation, but this year, polls show the race is a dead heat -- voting in dixville has never been engaged for the rest of the nation. >> after all the months of campaigning, after all the rallies, the millions of dollars of ads, it all comes down to you. it is out of my hands now. it is in yours. all of it depends on what you do. >> still, obama could not resist showing off for the campaign headquarters in his hometown of chicago where he rolled up his sleeves and work telephones to mobilize voters -- worked telephones to mobilize
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voters. state analysts say mitt romney must win ohio it has any chance of winning. >> how important is turnout? >> turnout is crucial. both candidates have spent billions in the last weeks and months. they want their supporters to go out and vote. if turnout is going to be high -- let's say higher than 63% -- this is good news for president obama. if it is lower than 61%, 62%, it might be good news for mitt romney. i have been several times to battleground states of ohio and virginia, and i can tell you, republicans are really energize. the have a feeling they really can win. democrats seem to be a little better organized, but we will see who is going to make it. >> we know this is a close election, perhaps one of the
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closest in u.s. history. what the chances of a tie? if that did happen, what would happen in electoral college? >> that is a very interesting question. the last time that happened was 1800 with jefferson and adams. a tiny means that both candidates will have to hundred 69 electoral votes, and each needs to hundred 72 in -- both candidates would have 269 elect or zero votes. the constitution says that the senate will decide who will be the vice president, and this is then going to beat joe biden, so the dream team would be mitt romney and joe biden. is this possible? yes. is this likely? do not think so. >> i do not know if many voters would consider it a dream team,
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but we will see what happens. >> to the arab world now, and british prime minister david cameron has suggested that syrian president bush are assad -- bashar al assad could be offered immunity if he agreed to leave power and leave the country. >> at the same time, united nations envoy warned that syria risks becoming a failed state like somalia. in syria, self activists said more than 100 people were killed across the country, including the brother of syria's parliament speaker. >> for months, the syrian president's army has been hunting down opposition activists. rebels have been attacked with bombs and grenades. this internet footage is thought to show a city not far from homs
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,. seven people were reported killed in this attack alone. russia's foreign minister met with jordan's foreign minister. he also held private talks with the former syrian prime minister. the former assad ally defected to the opposition in august. he faces tough questions about why russia continues to supply assad with weapons. >> we are only honoring contracts that were agreed some time ago. the supplies have nothing to do with the current conflict. they are merely supposed to help syria provide for its own defense. that includes defending itself against air attacks. >> that sort of rhetoric rings hollow to many in syria. for them, the deaths of friends and family have become a daily reality. >> in germany, reports are
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coming in the prosecutors are bringing charges against a surviving member of a suspected neo-nazi terror cell. >> he is suspected of being a member of a cell that killed at least 10 people, nine of them with immigrant roots between 2000 and 2007. both of his accomplices committed suicide last year. the murder spree caused outrage in the country and prompted the country to overhaul security agencies after investigators apparently botched several attempts to catch the perpetrators. we go now to our correspondent standing by in parliamentary studios. we know the suspect has been cooperating -- or she has been reportedly cooperating with investigators. what would she be charged with? does this come as a surprise? >> there are still a lot of uncertainties surrounding this story that charges have indeed been filed. we are still waiting for the
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prosecutor's office to confirm this story. all we have now is a newspaper report. we know she has been held in connection with a string of murders that appear to have been racially motivated, so we can expect she would be charged with murder or accessory to murder. another good bet is that she will be charged with membership in a terrorist organization. the newspaper report says that she has been charged and four others. what we are hearing from official circles is that the prosecutor's office does intend to file charges soon, is all they're saying, against several people in connection with those murders. >> how far along are the authorities in determining what went wrong with this investigation? >> a parliamentary investigative committee has been looking into this in great detail. what we have heard from the head of that committee is that there is what he described as a mentality problem within the security services. we have seen cases of files being destroyed that could
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possibly have given us more evidence in this case. we have seen a couple of high- level resignations over this case already. there is a great deal of speculation now about weather the right wing npd party in germany will be banned again. there are efforts to ban that once again. we are come -- awaiting the completion of the committee's work. we expect a report to be filed at the end of the year, but we can expect reforms to germany's domestic intelligence services. >> we thank you very much for that. major strikes paralyzed the greek capital once again. unions representing more than 4 million workers called the walkout in protest of the austerity program. a new package of cuts intended to usher in a fifth consecutive cut to pensions, an increase in the retirement age, and reductions to salary benefits and health care, is due to be
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voted on in parliament on wednesday. >> the prime minister has promised these will be the last cuts in wages and pensions, but says the country has no choice. if the package is rejected, greece would not be receiving the next installment of its international bailout. millions of greeks, however, said they are already suffering and that additional measures would be unbearable. >> once again, creeks are marching against the government's latest austerity measures. some protesters chanted, "de are terrorizing us. let's fight them." many ordinary greeks feel abandoned by politicians. demonstrators are hoping to stop the next package of cuts from passing into law. many think the situation has become unbearable. >> finding work is hard. finding work and decent conditions is impossible.
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people are having to work for 12 ballot -- 12 hours under salary. >> as a pensioner, i think this is the final straw. not only for us, but for workers as well. for workers with low incomes and retirees, there is no future in greece. these policies must be reversed, and we will fight on until they are. >> the strike is set to last for two days. air traffic controllers at athens airport have stopped work, and ferries are going nowhere. public transport has ground to a halt as well. protesters are hoping the strike will stop lawmakers from approving a further 13.5 billion euros in cuts. >> let's check in on tuesday's market action. the outcome of the u.s. presidential election is being closely watched by the financial markets. our correspondence sent us this summary from the frankfurt stock
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exchange. >> everybody waiting for the outcome in united states, the election that is so important, so much is hinging on that, not just on the presidential election -- mainly that, of course, but also the congressional vote important in terms of what can develop financially in terms of budget, in terms of the high debt the united states has at the momente market headed upward and was not at all hesitant. usually when things are as uncertain as they are in the united states, it goes down or people tread water here, but it was not that way. it was all the more surprising because it was bad news from the industrial sector in germany. incoming orders going down by 3.3% in september. lufthansa among the day's favorites. investors very much in agreement that it is closer together with turkish airlines. families in frankfurt for a
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quick month to the numbers. the dax finished the day up 5.7%. euro stoxx 50 up by about the same amount. across the atlantic on wall street, a rally going on there. the euro stronger against the greenback trading at a value of $1.2819. russian president vladimir putin has fired his defense minister over corruption allegations. >> he is suspected of involvement in a plan to sell off military assets cheaply to insiders. putin has put a close ally in his place. >> the sacking of the defense minister dominated the news on russian state television. president putin replace the long-serving minister with his staunch ally. >> it is important that the person who heads this ministry continue the reforms that have
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been initiated. and who pushes ahead with the dynamic development of our armed forces. >> russian state investigators recently raided the offices of a state-controlled military contractor after claims it sold assets to commercial firms at a huge loss. when he took over the portfolio six years ago, he was the first civilian to head the defense ministry. his efforts to reform post- soviet russia's bloated military were never popular with any armed forces. his replacement is a former emergencies minister. critics call him one of putin's henchman. >> it shows the atmosphere in this country is changing. political decisions are being made more and more quickly. with little room for any procrastination. >> vladimir putin appears to be bolstering his grip on power. >> stay with us.
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we will be back after a short break, and we will be taking a look at how germans could vote if they could vote in this u.s. presidential election. >> that and some champions league soccer action updates. stay with us.
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>> welcome back. returning to our top story, voting is under way in the united states presidential election. >> polling stations in all 50 states are open across the country. the contest is neck-and-neck. the president made calls from his campaign headquarters in chicago after he cast his ballot in early voting. his opponent, mitt romney, voted in massachusetts before heading to last-minute rallies in battleground states such as ohio and pennsylvania. if germans were allowed to vote today, the outcome would not be close at all. that is according to a recent poll. >> a full 85% of germans
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surveyed want to see barack obama stay in office. only 4% would give mitt romney a chance to move into the white house. >> germany's love affair with barack obama goes back to before he was even president when the young senator from illinois came to berlin with a message of hope and change. >> obama first won the hearts of the german public in 2008 and during his campaign for the white house. huge crowds turned out for the candidate's perfectly stage speech at the heart of berlin. >> thank you. thank you. thank you to the citizens of berlin. [applause] than in many germans believed obama would enable the u.s. to break with the unpopular policies of george w. bush and bolster its partnership with your a -- >> many germans believed obama would enable the u.s. to break with unpopular policies of george w. bush. >> 200,000 people in berlin came
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to hear him speak. no one before him manage to electrify the masses like that. he was and still is to extend a very charismatic leader. that is why the germans took such a shine to him. >> at the time, german chancellor angela merkel appeared unimpressed with obama 's performance. today, the u.s. president considers merkel to be one of his closest allies. last year, obama awarded to german chancellor the presidential medal of freedom, but merkel has been remarkably silent about the u.s. elections. her lack of open support suggests her friendship with obama may not be so close after all. but talk of a meeting this summer was also shut down. the chancellor had no plans to interrupt her vacation. at the last debate, obama talked about foreign policy.
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they came back to domestic issues and only once did he even mention europe. whichever candidate is elected, politicians say merkel's partners will be expected to play a bigger role in the world stage. >> europe is going to have to take on more responsibilities. the u.s. expects to do more militarily and expects us to get the turbulence with the euro under control, so germany is going to do more in every respect. >> the u.s., then pose a global role may be changing, but most germans still see obama as a hero -- the u.s.'s global role may be changing. >> there have been some disappointments. he was not able to push through as many reforms as he promised. >> he is still better than romney. >> i would vote for obama. why? i think he is more progressive and cares more about the people. >> his competitor -- money alone
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is not enough. i just think he is less concerned about everyone in the u.s. >> obama would be better for germany. >> obama's german supporters are holding their breath to see who comes out on top, but whoever wins, the next four years hold many challenges, both for the u.s. and for europe. >> the european union's budget is coming under increased scrutiny. on tuesday, you auditors released their report on spending, saying that at times, it was used less than optimally. >> the report of auditors said that a number of areas had inadequate control mechanisms. last week, conservatives in britain voted against their own prime minister, calling for cuts to the eu budget. >> david cameron is due to meet with chancellor angela merkel on wednesday to discuss the matter. >> the new toll road was built with money from brussels, but cars are a rarity here.
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auditors say this motorways just one example of the many poor investments made across europe. >> funds -- many instances of funds not being used for the purposes for which they were designated. >> many say the purpose is to prevent dubious investments and ensure the eu spends its money as efficiently as possible. the budget amounts to 130 billion euros, and the largest% slice of the pie go to agriculture and fisheries. 1/3 spent on infrastructure, and the remainder goes on foreign policy, social affairs, and research. the european commission rejects criticism that funds have been misapplied or mismanaged and is seeking to deflect the blame. >> member states need to step up a bit more. they need to take their role more seriously in the management of eu funds. >> it is the 18th time in a row that you auditors have unearthed
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waste and errors in the eu budget. >> germany's database and an investigating potential terrorism suspects is back in the spotlight with critics saying that it is already being abused. >> a retired judge has brought a case to the constitutional court, stating that the criteria for storing information on individuals is too vague. >> germany's interior minister has argued that storing the information is crucial in the fight against terrorism. >> it was 2007 when, with the puh of a button, the former interior minister created the anti-terror database. for security agencies and data privacy activists, it was a monumental event. for the first time, nearly 40 government agencies were able to share data on suspected terrorists with one another. the data base grew rapidly and now reportedly contains information on 16,000 people. privacy advocates were outraged, and it was not long before the
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issue landed at the constitutional court. the plaintiff claimed the database violated a law separating the work of police and security agencies and contain unnecessary information. >> there are people included in the database to do not belong there. they are not terrorists or suspects. they are completely innocent citizens who just happen to know someone who is a suspect in the eyes of the investigating authorities. >> but the german interior minister says it is an essential resource in the fight against terrorism. >> a database of this kind is a logical and fitting solution to improve communications and cooperation between agencies. >> the database was created six years ago following a failed mob -- bomb plot by islamist extremists. a similar database on far right suspect was created after it was revealed last year that a neo- nazi group had murdered at least nine immigrants. >> in a moment, we will take a look at tonight's soccer action in the champions league.
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>> first, let's look at some other news in brief. >> in iraq, at least 25 people were killed when a car bomb exploded in a city north of baghdad. the attack took place outside an iraqi army base as potential new recruits gathered at the gate. >> asian and european leaders have vowed to promote free trade in their final communique at a major meeting in laos. 51 leaders attended the summit, held every two years. delegates from indebted european countries lobbied for more asian investment to boost flagging growth and overcome the current year of crisis. >> ukraine's electoral commission has called for a real vote in district after results from the recent parliamentary election were declared invalid. the move follows widespread protests by the opposition, which claims the election was rigged. early counts suggest the president's party won the most
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support. over to sports now. german teams are bitter rivals when they meet in bundesliga action. but teams are creating a sensation in the champions league. >> two weeks ago, dortmund beat real madrid. both teams were boosted to the top of the lead. they are determined to keep the -- to keep the momentum. >> now a force to reckon with in europe, the team was knocked out of the competition early in the last two seasons, but now they talk their growth. they are favorites to reach the last 16, even if they are concerned about revenge from the spaniards. -- now they talk their group. >> this will be one of the challenge is -- biggest challenges we faced for the team and individual. >> this was good news for the final trading session. captain can play despite having broken a bone in his nose, the team is at full strength.
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but stevens has had to sort out some important questions. >> i am still thinking about our team. we will just have to wait and see how we line up. >> it is still unclear who will be in gold. the number one at the start of the season was injured. he wants to get back on the team. this could well happen. performances by a substitute have been below par of late. whatever the lineup, they are full of confidence, communicating this to the english press. >> we should show them that we are at home, you know? we have 55,000 people here at least, and we should have a great game. >> despite the dismal gray november weather, fans are likely to have plenty to shout about on tuesday evening. >> finally, a surrealist painter salvador dali was famous for his love of large canvases. >> one of the very biggest has
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now gone on show in canada. the 8-by-15-meter painting had long gone unnoticed in a storage area of the new york metropolitan opera house. >> he painted it for a ballet production. the painting is due to go on tour in south america and europe next year. >> it is hilarious. it went -- >> and noticed. the size of that one, unnoticed. all right, you are up to date at this hour here on the "journal." thanks for joining us. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--
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